FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 4, 2020) – Following the official announcement of the qualifiers for the 2020 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships, the Northern Arizona men's track & field team will be sending a total of seven distance runners to next week's NCAA Indoor Championships.
The Lumberjack men will be led by seniors
Geordie Beamish (mile, 3000m) and
Tyler Day (3000m, 5000m) and junior
Luis Grijalva (3000m, 5000m), who will each run in two events.
NAU will also send sophomore
Theo Quax (mile), junior
Blaise Ferro (5000m), sophomore
Ryan Raff (5000m) and freshman
Abdihamid Nur (5000m) to the national championships to be held next Friday and Saturday, March 13-14, at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, N.M.
NAU's seven qualifiers sets a new school record for the NCAA Indoor Championships, surpassing the six who qualified for the national indoor meet two years ago.
The Lumberjacks' 10 total entries is tied for second-most with LSU and Texas Tech behind Oregon's 11 entries on the men's side. LSU is ranked No. 1 in this week's USTFCCCA Division I Indoor rankings, followed by Oregon and NAU, who is ranked third in the country.
NAU's presence will be felt in the three distance events beginning in the mile, where Beamish will look to defend his indoor national title from a year ago. Beamish will enter with the fourth-fastest seeded time of 3:56.90, which he posted at the NYRR Millrose Games a month ago. While Beamish is the defending champ, Quax will be making his first career NCAA Indoor appearance with a qualifying time of 3:58.13 during the Husky Classic.
Grijalva, Beamish and Day head into the NCAA Indoor 3K with the three-fastest seeded times, which also happen to rank sixth, seventh and 12th respectively in the all-time collegiate top 15 for the event. Grijalva (7:43.73), Beamish (7:44.67) and Day (7:45.70) all posted their historic times on Feb. 15 at the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston, Mass.
The 5K will be full of the NAU Blue & Gold with the 'Jacks occupying five of the 16 entries, headlined by Day's American collegiate record time of 13:16.95. Day, who is on the watch list for The Bowerman Award, clocked the third-fastest time in indoor track & field history at the BU John Thomas Terrier Classic on Jan. 24.
At that same meet in Boston, Grijalva turned in a qualifying time of 13:29.74, which places him fourth this season. Ferro is seeded 12th with a time of 13:39.58, posted at last month's Husky Classic.
Both Nur, the Big Sky Men's Freshman of the Year, and Raff impressively recorded their qualifying times at altitude during the Mountain T's Invitational in the Skydome on Jan. 31. Nur is seeded one spot behind Ferro with an altitude-converted time of 13:39.81 and Raff snagged the 16th and final qualifying spot with an altitude-converted time of 13:40.99.
In addition to Quax, Ferro, Nur and Raff will all be making their NCAA Championship debuts next week as well. Day, Grijalva and Beamish will each be making their second consecutive appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
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